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You Need Big Balls to Make More Putts

December 2, 2019 | By Greg D'Andrea | 3 Comments

Yes, that’s right; having Big Balls will help you convert more putts – especially from shorter distances. But I’m not talking about doing something ballsy on the golf course. I’m talking about gaining the confidence you need to drop more putts from 6-feet or less.

Do you have Big Balls on the practice green?
Do you have Big Balls on the practice green?

Pro golfers rarely miss short putts. In fact, from 4-feet or less they are more than 90% accurate. But the same can’t be said for weekend hacks. Heck, I miss 4-foot putts multiple times per round!

If I’m putting from 6-feet it gets substantially worse for me (pros are 70% from 6′). And farther back from that is anyone’s guess (pros are around 50% accurate from 8′-9′). The reality is, if recreational golfers want to convert more short putts, they need to practice. But let’s face it, practicing stinks.

Who wants to hit putts from 2-, 4- and 6-feet over and over again? The answer is simple: No one. Especially if you’re not getting paid for it (and even then you probably still don’t want to do it).

But what if we shook things up a bit? And maybe threw-in a little fun at the same time? After all, golf should be about having fun!

This is how having those Big Balls can help:

Big Balls are oversized golf balls to use as a training aid for 2-6 foot putts…The concept is simple, warm up and practice with Big Balls 10-20 times around that distance. Then when you go back to your ProV1, it will feel like you are putting a marble into a bucket, building confidence at that [critical] distance.

Recently, the good folks over at Big Balls sent me their product free to try out. After having a good chuckle unboxing them, I took a moment to wrap my brain around the fact that these were in every sense a golf ball, only in a much larger size. It was a bit surreal to be honest.

Big Balls are 30% larger than normal golf balls. It’s enough to immediately notice the novelty of it all. But it’s also super effective at building confidence: “There’s an immediate boost in confidence that gets you reading putts and sinking putts with more consistency,” it says on the Big Balls website. And they’re right, go back to a normal-sized ball and you really do feel like you’ll make every putt.

Big Balls are 30% bigger than regular golf balls
Big Balls are 30% bigger than regular golf balls

Despite being bigger, Big Balls are actually the same weight as a normal ball – helping them preform with true feel and roll while you practice. But the increased size provides an immediate impact that sticks in your mind – even after you switch back to your actual ball out on the course.

And while I’m sure practicing with Big Balls is actually helping your putting stroke in a physical way, these balls are really intended to mentally make you a better putter. And everybody knows golf is half mental!

So the next time you and your golf buddies hit the practice green, toss a couple of Big Balls down on the turf and begin putting. Not only will you be building confidence for the actual course, but it won’t be long before the rest of your foursome takes notice. And once they do, you’ll have a great putting tip for them and a few laughs to boot!

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: practice green, putt, putting, putting green

Indoor Putting; Who Gives a Sh*t?

September 9, 2010 | By Greg D'Andrea | 3 Comments

I haven’t putted in my house in more than 8 years. The photo to the left is the reason. That’s my dog, Eleanor. She has a thing for spherical objects (and pork, but that’s another story). With her around, my putts never even get close to the plastic target. Instead, she knocks them off course with her snout and then proceeds to chase them around the room for the next hour (usually digressing after I wrestle them away from her).

But you know something? I don’t miss putting indoors on my carpet. For one, does it really help your putting on the course? I don’t know too many living rooms that have breaks in them. I mean seriously, all winter long you’re putting them in like a madman and then comes spring, a real green, and BAM – your ball moves to the right because of a break. But this article suggests it helps: “…anything is better than nothing. Just getting a putter in your hands and making some putting strokes is going to help. Practice makes perfect!”

Practice does indeed make perfect. I know plenty of VP’s who have a putter and fake plastic hole stashed behind their office door. “Give me a minute, I’m on a conference call!” Conference call my ass (of course, they could be on the conference call at the same time). Does it help? Funny, they can never break 100 at the annual company golf outing.

But indoor putting is big business. Got floor vents? If so, you my friend, are in luck. For only $19.95, you can have a “real golf hole in your house” (and if you putt it too hard, you have a real wall to automagically stop the ball). This ingenious putting aid is called Puttacup, and it will start shaving off the strokes in no time!

OK, this is my favorite part about Puttacup – once they realized that average floor vents are too small to fit a regular sized golf hole, they turned this adversity into marketing genius: “The advantage of this is that while you practice your putting at home, you are practicing into a cup that is a little smaller, so once you get out onto a real putting green, the actual hole will appear much bigger.” Brilliant! Too bad I don’t have floor vents.

This leaves me with very few options. Enter Truline Indoor Putting Greens. These beauts are “tour speed” and will “putt at a stimpmeter speed of approximately 13 feet.” Few things here: 1) Aren’t you always putting slightly uphill on these mats? 2) Not sure about your course, by the courses in my area rarely sport 13′ on the old stimpmeter. And 3) My wife’s an interior designer. There’s no way that thing is staying out in the living room for any length of time. Soon I won’t want to set it up and then it will just be collecting dust in the attic.

OK, I know I’m sort of going off on a tangent here. So let’s hear from you – do you find yourself putting indoors? Take the poll and let us know.

What Are Your Thoughts on Indoor Putting?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: golf, golf stinks, golfstinks, indoor putting, puttacup, putting green, putting mat, truline indoor putting green

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